Sask. premier pushes for renewed trade agreement in wake of Trump tariff threats

Saskatchewan is still trying to figure out how the 50 per cent tariff threatened by the U.S. President on Monday will affect the province and its industries.

Speaking from P.E.I. ahead of meetings with his fellow premiers on Tuesday, Scott Moe said this is a pattern from the U.S. in the last year, and the province has gone through this nine or ten times already.

“Each and every time that happens, they are very vague in what that announcement is, and every province – and in fairness, the federal government – takes some time to go through and see what the actual impact is,” said Moe.

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At the time he spoke, Moe said it didn’t look like the tariffs would impact Saskatchewan’s largest export industries to the U.S. – oil, agrifood products and uranium.

However, Moe said Saskatchewan has been dealing with impacts from previous tariffs, and these tariffs could affect other industries in Saskatchewan and other provinces. The premier said it underscores the need for the provinces to come together and support the federal government in its negotiations.

“The trade relationship that Canada has with the United States of America is significant, the most important trade relationship. It’s much larger than any current, or previous, or coming administration, and it’s much larger than any president or prime minister. And we need to keep our eye on that as Canadians,” explained Moe.

The new tariffs would be instated in 30 days, and Moe wants the federal government’s negotiating team to intensify and be more ambitious in its negotiations for a renewed CUSMA deal in that time. He said it’s long past time for a deal, but you need all three sides to sign something like that.

Moe said his advice would be for the negotiating team to “camp out” in Washington and take as many meetings as possible.

The current and threatened tariffs aren’t doing anything for affordability for people or for the cost of doing business, according to Moe, lumping counter-tariffs in there as well. He said it’s in the best interest of Canadians, Mexicans and Americans to have a new trade deal.

The premier also said it’s a challenging time to deal with the U.S. right now, and there will be a lot of rhetoric coming from the U.S. as well as Canada. But Moe said that needs to be set aside.

“The goal isn’t to win some sort of a war of words on social media, or even to one-up when it comes to whatever the policy or the rhetoric of the day is. The goal here is actually for us to have that renewed, reviewed CUSMA agreement moving forward,” said Moe.

Sask. Premier Scott Moe and Ont. Premier Doug Ford shake hands after the First Ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon, June 2025 (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

Saskatchewan returned American booze to its liquor store shelves months ago, but some provinces like B.C. and Ontario have kept up their bans. That’s irked some American lawmakers and was brought up by U.S President Donald Trump in talking about his new tariffs, calling it an unfair trade practice.

Moe said it’s not up to provinces to tell other provinces what to do, but did say he thinks the federal government may soon request those provinces lift their booze bans.

“That ask should come from the federal government – they’re at the negotiating table, they’ll know the sensitivities that it may that may present in those negotiations,” said Moe.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Ontario will not be lifting its ban, saying he’s tired of the “bully” trying to take their lunch money.

“If (Trump) continues to constantly bully us, we can’t keep rolling over,” said Ford on Tuesday.

“We can’t keep backing down. We have to go full tilt … We have to utilize every tool we have in the toolbox and make sure he feels the pain.”